How to Carry Camera Gear on a Bike?

Isn’t it fun to just cruise on your cycle and capture the moment?  But, do you also hesitate while carrying heavy camera equipment?  Then, we will discuss the best way to carry your camera with several other pieces of equipment such as a tripod, etc.

It can be tedious to keep the equipment with you on the bike, but not impossible.  People with DSLRs would definitely need a carrying bag to hold the cameras.  Let us see what kinds of bags are available in the article below.

Best Camera Bag for Mountain Biking

Mountain Biking is fun but to capture moments from this experience, you need to have the most durable bag that can hold the lens, the camera, and the camera strap all in one place.  Different kinds of bags that you can carry while biking in the mountains are:

Trunk Bag

Trunk bags are another fantastic variety of bags that can protect your camera from getting wet in the rain or getting damp.  Several trunk bags are waterproof in nature.  You can attach the bag to the rack of the cycle.  Some examples of trunk bags are BV Bike Bag Bicycle Panniers.

Keep the camera off your back, hang it low, and distribute the weight accordingly. 

Handlebar Bag

A handler bag is attached to your bike’s handlebar, so you don’t have to carry the bag yourself.  Instead, you can fill the bag with accessories like lenses, extra batteries, and miniature accessories.

However, it might hinder the light coming from the headlight and may not be suitable for your whole setup of the bike.  But these are some of the most common bags that cyclers use while photographing along the ride.

Some sites also claim that handlebar bags can carry many things like a small tripod, water bottles, eatables, etc.

Small Pouches

You can easily find cheap pouches online to carry your camera and the supporting equipment.  These pouches also come with holding straps that you can put around your neck.  However, these pouches cannot hold your cameras, such as DSLRs.

When looking for pouches, always buy the ones with an extra layer of padding to protect your camera from any further damage.  For example, you can buy some pouches are “Lowepro Dash point 10 camera pouches”.

Shoulder-strap bags

Shoulder bags are versatile in their usage as you can wear them on your shoulders and access the camera whenever you want.  You can even get the camera out of the bag and click while biking. 

However, it can be risky, and you should avoid accidents.  It can also weigh a lot, and your shoulders might get tired quicker than ever.

Still, shoulder strap bags remain among the most popular cycling bags because of their spacious features and fashionable sense.  Some examples include the Billingham Hadley Pro shoulder bag.

Sling straps

Sling or neck straps are great for adjusting a bag’s length while you carry it.  For example, you can shorten the strap and place the bag on the bike rack if you are cycling.  However, if you need to click pictures, you can increase the length of the strap and shoot with ease.

To protect the camera, you can adjust the strap close to your body and, when in use, loosen it up.  However, sling straps are costly because of the material used to make the strap.

Some examples of Slings or neck-straps are Peak Design Slide.

Backpack mount

Backpacks with mounts are pocket-friendly bags that have pockets in them with a good carrying capacity.  Such bags are helpful for cyclers and are famous for carrying heavy cameras.

However, backpacks also come with mounts over the strap that can mount action cameras.  But action cameras are small, and you might not use them all the time.  Using a heavy camera like a DSLR has a negative as the camera’s weight would create an uneven distribution. 

In addition, the weight causes the cameras to be at risk of falling or causing the cycler to have pain in their shoulders.

As a result, you have to always travel with small tools and cover up the camera lenses to protect them from any harm.  An example of a Backpack mount would be Peak Design Capture Camera Clip.

Best Bike Handler Camera Bag

After researching quite a bit, some handler bags that would come in handy to you during your bike trip are:

• LowePro Photo Sport 300 AW II
• Ortlieb Ultimate 6
• Ibera Bike handlebar bag
• Endurax large camera backpack

Camera Strap for Cycling

Camera straps can help when you are cycling away on a beautiful highway and want to capture the moment.  You can easily adjust the length of the strap to your convenience.  Some great camera straps are mentioned as follows:

1. PS Bag works 1″ Rider strap

2. Outer Shell Camera Strap

3. SkinGrowsBack 3 Point cycling camera strap

4. Mettle Speed strap

How to Carry a Tripod on a Bike?

On the bike rack 

The rear end of the bike has a rack to place your camera bag or strap the Tripod stand horizontally.  However, you can either tie the tripod stand with the rack by using bungee cords or position it so that it doesn’t create a hindrance for the cars and bikes around you.

On the stem between the handlebar and the bike’s fork-like area

You can easily extend the bike’s stem by purchasing a bike stem extender and attaching the Tripod with the stem further.  This way, it will not block your legs from paddling.

In a camera bag

Buy a little-sized bag that can hold your Tripod and carry other camera equipment as well.  However, a camera bag would not be an advisable product option.

Sizeabletrailers

Buying a towing trailer may be the best decision you ever make since it can carry everything you want and be as lightweight as you want.  So buy the perfect size for you and your bike and keep the Tripod in the trailer only.

Buy mini tripods instead

The best way of carrying tripods is to buy a mini tripod or an adjustable one that you can keep anywhere and adjust the height as necessary.

How Do You Carry a DSLR on a Bicycle?

In my personal experience carrying a DSLR on a bicycle is not the safest, but if you need to do so, keep it in a backpack. This way, your camera stays protected from a sudden amount of jerks. 

How to Carry Your Camera on a Bike?

Carrying your camera while riding on a bike is tricky because you will have to put it in a different bag.  Therefore, you must buy a bag that can hold all your equipment and not weigh heavy on your shoulders. 

Below, we have mentioned some of the bags that you can buy to carry your camera, like DSLR:

• Pouches 
• Handlebar bags
• Backpacks
• Saddlebags or panniers
• Waist or shoulder sling bags
• Shoulder harness for action cameras
• Sling or neck straps
• Trunk Bags

Keep in mind, your camera must suit your purpose. There are different options in the market. If you want the best cameras on a budget, check out the article name on What is the best budget cameras for cycling.

Conclusion

We talked about some of the best bags that you choose from for a successful bike trip.  You can easily pick from one of these bags according to your taste.

However, you should also consider your convenience and the bike style so that whichever you bag buy goes with your whole look.  It should also be spacious and keep you hands-free to take good cycling photos.